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Introduction
The cIRcle Office is happy to announce updates to the cIRcle File Naming Conventions! Consistent and thoughtfully-considered file naming standards facilitate the discovery and long-term preservation of cIRcle items, so the changes made to cIRcle’s File Naming Conventions aim to align with broader best practices. This ensures that that cIRcle is well-equipped to preserve and provide access to the works of UBC and its community. In addition, the sharing and promotion of these revised conventions can help cIRcle submitters understand why the file names of their content may be changed during cIRcle processing.
For graduate students preparing to submit their theses or dissertations to cIRcle, we recommend you review the Submitting Theses and Dissertations to cIRcle or Submitting Creative Arts Theses and Dissertations to cIRcle (MFA or MMus students only), which have also been updated to align with the broader Conventions.
What are file naming conventions, and why are they important?
Simply put, file naming conventions are standards used to name files consistently. They are commonly discussed in the context of research data management, but their use extends far beyond that—file naming conventions exist as a part of countless organizations and facilitate services all around us. While choosing file names might seem like a relatively small consideration in the context of a larger organizational workflow, file names can have significant impacts on a much wider scale. For example, if file names aren’t descriptive enough, it becomes difficult to identify and understand the files. However, when file names become overly long, they become far more prone to corruption, with the possibility for the permanent destruction of files.
In this way, creating a file naming convention is something of a balancing act, and one that requires a lot of research! By documenting the cIRcle File Naming Conventions, we aim to remove the burden of file naming research from our submitters, while ensuring transparency in the necessary work to ensure that their files conform to a standard that can be consistently applied.
Upholding good file naming conventions is vital to ensuring access, preservation, and ongoing maintenance of materials held in cIRcle. File names should be both human- and machine-readable, meaning that the people and computer software interacting with cIRcle files are able to recognize, understand, and process the file names. Additionally, using file names that meet the standards of best practice ensures that content can be found, used, and maintained for as long as possible.
Timeline and Process
Updating cIRcle’s file naming conventions for repository submissions began as one of cIRcle’s 2024-2025 Unit Plan goals. cIRcle’s 2024-25 cIRcle Digital Repository Research Assistant, Fraser Sutherland, wrote a comprehensive report reviewing cIRcle’s existing file naming conventions and current best practices more broadly, resulting in numerous recommendations.
After the recommendations were reviewed and prioritized by the cIRcle Office, the implementation phase of the project began in Winter 2025-26 via an iterative drafting process by the current Digital Repository Research Assistant, under the guidance of the cIRcle Digital Repository Librarian and cIRcle Library Specialist. The changes went live in late January 2026.
Additions and Changes
Our updates include the additions to permitted characters, more detailed and comprehensive instructions, updated examples, new guidelines around multi-file deposits, and more. These updates also extend beyond changes to practices—we also chose to expand the rationale behind our Conventions, to provide users with a deeper understanding of what file naming conventions are, and the impacts to the discovery and preservation of their work.
We hope the information we have provided can help readers understand the deeper principles behind why these choices in our Conventions were made, fostering a more complex and nuanced understanding of file names that they can take into future research, employment, or general digital asset management settings.
Learn More and Deposit Your Research
Interested in learning more about file naming best practices? Check out UBC Library Research Data Management: Why is file naming important?, or consider attending an upcoming Data Bites Workshop on file naming best practices!
Are you a UBC faculty member, student, staff, or community partner interested in submitting your work to cIRcle? If so, consult our Submissions page for more information or contact us!